Switching Chairs: Vocational Rehabilitation and the Wait Periodby Norman MeldrumFirst, a brief background, bearing in mind that the definitions below are meant to be informative rather than legalistic. Vocational Rehabilitation services are available to people who have disabilities. The services are based on need. The Rehabilitation Act, under which these services are funded, requires that programs serve the most severely disabled first. States deal with this mandate in a variety of ways. As one might expect, there are not enough resources to immediately serve all of the people who are found to need services. What Maine VR has done is to establish a waiting period between when a person asks for services and the intake period (when a person gets to meet with a counselor). Keep in mind that people do not usually ask for vocational services unless they have a real need and want to go to work. Therefore, most people who apply will end up in one of the three categories. The people who are waiting for intake are said to be on the "Wait List." The Wait List has been a concern for advocates and VR employees for many years. When the list becomes long, and it has often been many months long, prospective clients are not served as they should be. The current situation: Maine VR has, over the last year, made a committment to shorten the Wait List. They are doing this by processing more people each month. I certainly applaud this effort. Shortening the time before intake has the advantage of letting people know if they are going to qualify for services. However, I question how much the Wait List has really decreased for the average client. Anecdotal information is suggesting that, instead of the client sitting and waiting before intake, they now sit and wait after intake to get a work plan started with their counselor. Simply put, you wait, or you wait. This is not increasing services; this is merely making a bad situation look better, or different. I hope Maine VR can do better than this. Do you have a VR Wait List experience that you would like to share with us? Some Rehabilitation Services Links: Maine Bureau of Rehabilitation Services What Is Vocational Rehabilitation? (Maine) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (H.R. 8070) The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) |